The CEVA, acronym of “Cornavin – Eaux-Vives – Annemasse”, designates a rail link between the canton of Geneva (Switzerland) and Haute-Savoie (France), put into service in December 2019. It connects Geneva (Cornavin station ) in Annemasse bypassing the city center of Geneva and constitutes the backbone of regional public transport by allowing the installation of the Léman Express.
The origins of the project date back to 1850. It was not until 1888 with the opening of the Annemasse line at Genève-Eaux-Vives, then 1949 with the opening of the Cornavin-La Praille line (marshalling yard), to see only part of the connection made. However, the project was reactivated in 2001 and the Lancy-Pont-Rouge station – commissioned on December 16, 2002 – constitutes a new terminus on the left bank for regional trains from Coppet.
The CEVA line has five intermediate stations and two terminal stations, Cenève-Cornavin and Annnemasse, spread over the entire route. Two new stations were thus built, Lancy-Bachet and Genève-Champel. These new stations, as well as Lancy-Pont Rouge, Eaux-Vives and Chêne-Bourg, which were rebuilt, were the subject of an architectural competition. The construction of these five buildings was entrusted to the winner of the competition: the French architect Jean Nouvel.
All of the five intermediate stations will have a common architectural treatment, based on the use of large “glass bricks”, available as a facade as well as a floor or a roof, in order to allow the maximum amount of light into the spaces. mostly underground stations. The initial project provided for the creation of 1500 of these “bricks” to dress the stations, but it was planed to save money, the creation of these bricks, estimated at 45 million francs would have represented a quarter of the budgetary risks. totals. Thus, the number of bricks is reduced by a third, and they are replaced by other, less expensive materials.